BSF personnel rescue rare birds from Hili-bound bus

Balurghat: The BSF rescued 58 rare species of birds from a private bus from Trimohini Bazaar, about 21 km from here, on Tuesday afternoon.

Acting on a tip-off, the BSF jawans under 183 Battalions conducted the raids and rescued the birds which were left abandoned in cages in the bus.

According to a BSF source, these birds looked quite similar to Indian hen. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cost of these rare birds was around Rs 58,00,000. None has been arrested till now.

The BSF said these birds were kept in cages in a Hili-bound private bus from Kolkata.

It is suspected that they were being smuggled to Bangladesh because of their high demands in the neighbouring country.

The BSF conducted the search operation after getting information from a reliable source that some rare birds were being smuggled to Bangladesh.

The birds were kept under security in the Chalkgopal border outpost.

Forest officials were informed for identification of these rare species.

"It is suspected that the birds were purchased from Kolkata and were being sent to Bangladesh at a high cost. Following the raids, we rescued them but unfortunately a few

of them died," said a BSF officer. An organised racket of unscrupulous traders was behind the crime, the officer said.